ST JOHN’S, Antigua, CMC – Legendary former West Indies captain Sir Vivian Richards believes that Desmond Haynes is the right man to succeed Stuart Law as head coach of the regional team.
The 62-year-old Haynes has indicated his willingness to take over at the helm once Law, who resigned late September, vacates the position at the end of the Windies’ current tour of Bangladesh.
Sir Viv said Haynes, who is widely regarded as one of the best openers of all time, would bring a winning mentality and a wealth of experience.
“The players have squandered beautiful positions, and I think that is because they have lacked someone with a solid base of success and winning. Desmond has been there, done that. He knows how to win,” Sir Viv said.
Haynes and fellow Barbadian Gordon Greenidge formed what many consider to be the best opening pair in cricket history. He played 116 Test matches for the West Indies with an average of 42.29 and he also played in 238 ODIs where he averaged 41.37.
In fact, Sir Viv said he felt it was important that the head coach should come from the Caribbean.
He maintained that coaches from outside of the region sometimes did not fully understand the Windies’ players and pointed to the fact that there had not been much success from those appointments.
“I would love to see a Caribbean person in that position. We have had these overseas coaches, but I have not seen the benefit of that as yet. We have spent a fair bit of money on them, and we have not seen the progress you would expect,” Sir Viv said.
“I would love to give it (head coach) to someone who has been close to the successes of the past, because I think the players are lacking that information. I won’t be singing my own praises, but if someone feels I can help … the CWI has ignored players like me over the years.”
Sir Viv Richards is backing Desmond Haynes to be the West Indies’ next head coach
